Pages

Monday, 5 November 2012

Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd Edition was a staple of my high school years. This time we figured on a bigger battle than our chaos warband skirimishes. We would field over 100 models on each side.
Optimus Prime suggested we put everything on the table, points be damned. I fielded my Orc army, most of which was painted in highschool. It was light on goblins as I had stolen their bases for another project.
The Orcs opted for big solid blocks of infantry while Chaos went with many smaller bands to set-up flank attacks. As my army was horribly outnumbered we wracked our brains for a scenario that would make for a satisfying battle. Flames of War had me thinking about objectives and so we set some bottle caps on my side of the board representing the nectar of the gods that the Goblinoids would have to defend for 6 turns.
We would do battle on a heavily forested board.

Smaug and his Orc army

Smaug - small winged firebreathing dragon - 250 points

Smaug's Buddy - Manticore - 200 points

12 Orc arrer boys

20 Black Orcs with halberds

20 Orc boys with halberds (Ruglud's armoured orcs)

15 Gobbo's with 3 Goblin Fanatics

12 Wolf riders

1 Wolf drawn chariot (without scythed wheels)

Ravening hordes of Chaos

3 blocks of 10 Maruaders

2 blocks of 10 Beastmen

3 stupidity prone Trolls

6 Ogres

5 blocks of 10 Chaos Thugs

Tiberius the feeble - Chaos Warrior serving as General

SETUP AND DEPLOYMENT

Tiberius keeps a watchful eye over the Trolls and his horde in general.

Starting positions. The bottle caps are the objectives while the abundance of trees will prove more of an annoyance than anything else.

UNITS IN RESERVE

Mini Smaug and his Orc army

Ravening hordes of Chaos

DEPLOYMENT SUMMARY

Mini Smaug and his Orc army: The Dragon and Manticore anchor the lines with the aim of holding the objectives. Each is supported by a block of solid orc infantry. Ravening hordes of Chaos: Small groups of elite troops spread wide. Maximum coverage that ended up being hindered by the terrain and saw forward units blocking the advance of those behind.

TURN 1

The chariot rattles forward, the Orc boys march over to the objective. Manticore takes to the air.

COMBAT CASUALTY SUMMARY

Mini Smaug and his Orc army

Ravening hordes of Chaos

Smaug got lucky and toasted a Chaos Thug with his fiery breath.

TURN 1 SUMMARY

Mini Smaug and his Orc army: General advance. We consult the flying rules. By the end of the night we still don't know how the fly-by attack rules work. Animosity rears it's ugly head as the Black Orcs spend the turn hurling abuse at the neighbouring gobbo's.Ravening hordes of Chaos: Another general advance hindered by forgetting to reserve move. We then adopt a 'march' rule that came to be the norm in later editions of Warhammer.

TURN 2

The chariot crashes home and we learn the wierd and unique rules for chariots in hand to hand

COMBAT CASUALTY SUMMARY

Mini Smaug and his Orc army

Ravening hordes of Chaos

1 unit of Chaos Thugs

A handful of Chaos Thugs crushed under a chariots wheels.

1 Troll killed by a gobbo fanatic

TURN 2 SUMMARY

Mini Smaug and his Orc army: The chariot crashes home then gets mired in combat. The Goblin fanatics are released and combined with Smaug's breath destroy a unit of Chaos Thugs and a Troll. The regeneration rolls were unkind to the Chaos General all game with not a single success.Ravening hordes of Chaos: The horde continue to advance. The powerful Chaos Mauraders are delayed by the units ahead and find it difficult to get into combat.

TURN 3

The Goblin fanatics whirl back into their parent unit killing 5 and routing the gobbo's

The Beastmen learn that it's hard to wound an Orc. The Ogre's lurk in a nearby wood.

COMBAT CASUALTY SUMMARY

Mini Smaug and his Orc army

5 Gobbo's.

1 wolf rider chariot

Ravening hordes of Chaos

1 unit of Chaos Thugs

A handful of Chaos Thugs crushed under a chariots wheels.

1 Troll

TURN 3 SUMMARY

Mini Smaug and his Orc army: The fanatics, lured out by a screen of Chaos thugs, now whirl around uncontrolled. One ploughs back into it's parent unit causing carnage. The Manticore does a fly-by on the beastmen killing one. It will spend the rest of the day puzzling out the intricacies of the aerial rules, banking slowly to the right and playing no further part in the game.Ravening hordes of Chaos: The beastmen charge into the block of Orc Halberds. They are ground down and slowly pushed back and yet they will not break. Tiberius the Chaos Warrior herds his trolls into the cover of a nearby wood. The wolf rider chariot is swamped and pulled apart. The rules said it ran amok but it made more sense to say it was smashed to pieces.

TURN 4

The Black Orcs charge a troll, drive it back into the forest and then are swamped by Chaos Thugs and Ogres!

Orc Halberds push back the hordes and delay more powerful units from getting involved.

COMBAT CASUALTY SUMMARY

Mini Smaug and his Orc army

5 Gobbo's.

4 Black Orcs

1 wolf rider chariot

Ravening hordes of Chaos

1 unit of Chaos Thugs

A handful of Chaos Thugs crushed under a chariots wheels.

3 Trolls

1 beastman

TURN 4 SUMMARY

Mini Smaug and his Orc army: Smaug charges into the forest and tears apart a troll which fails to regenerate. The Black orcs charge and are counter charged by Ogres and Thugs. The Thugs are hurled back by the Black Orc General and his troops but the flanking ogres prove a difficult proposition.Ravening hordes of Chaos: A troll tears down 3 Black Orcs before succuming to halberd blows. The Ogres and Thugs fell another Black Orc while the Orc Halberds on the left flank are slowly surrounded.

TURN 5

Tiberius the Chaos Warrior and General of the horde is incinerated by Smaugs fiery breathe

Halberd wielding Orcs surrounded by a herd of Beastmen.

Panic ensues as a unit of Thugs charge Smaug and are butchered.

COMBAT CASUALTY SUMMARY

Mini Smaug and his Orc army

5 Gobbo's.

5 Black Orcs

6 Orc Halberds

2 Gobbo wolf riders

1 wolf rider chariot

Ravening hordes of Chaos

2 units of Chaos Thugs

A handful of Chaos Thugs crushed under a chariots wheels.

3 Trolls

Tiberius - Chaos Warrior General

4 Beastmen - killed by Halberd wielding orcs

TURN 5 SUMMARY

Mini Smaug and his Orc army: The wolf riders charge on the far right flank and get bogged down in a fight that goes no where. The Orc Arrer boys fire volleys into the horde and turn back an assualt by Chaos Thugs. Smaug incinerates the enemy general and destroys a unit of thugs single handedly.Ravening hordes of Chaos: The Black orcs are slowly pushed back and wrapped around by the ogres. A suicide charge by some thugs into Smaug and their predictable anihilation causes ripples of panic throughout the Chaos forces. The Beastmen swarm around the Orc Halberds charging them in the rear. The Orcs nerve holds and they hurl the Beastmen back.

TURN 6

It all comes down to this. Halberd Orcs swarmed by the Ravening Hordes.

COMBAT CASUALTY SUMMARY

Mini Smaug and his Orc army

5 Gobbo's.

5 Black Orcs

8 Orc Halberds

4 Gobbo wolf riders

1 wolf drawn chariot

Ravening hordes of Chaos

2 units of Chaos Thugs

A handful of Chaos Thugs crushed under a chariots wheels.

3 Trolls

Tiberius - Chaos Warrior General

A handful of thugs torn down by wold riders

1 Ogre

6 Beastment butchered over many rounds by the Halberd Orcs

TURN 6 SUMMARY

Mini Smaug and his Orc army: The left flank and the associated objective was held thanks to those brave Orc Boys who defied the odds and pushed back the Horde time and time again. In the final turn they were surrounded on all sides and refused to panic. Ravening hordes of Chaos: Everything is thrown at the left flank but the dice gods are cruel and the Orcs hold.

The dragon proved too tough for the right flank. Aerial rules are painful to understand and the manticore would have been better spent on the ground. It's ineptitude left it's flank ripe for the taking. However the dice gods were not on the side of the Ravening Horde and the Orc Halberds did surprisingly well. The Orcs were equipped as their models were, with halberds. This gave them a slight edge in pitched battle as the Ravening Hordes came to the table with only standard equipment. Every little bit counts but in the end Orcish endurance won out. The objectives were held for the required 6 turns. A good game and a reminder of just how crunchy the rules for the 3rd edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle are.